{"id":5390,"date":"2024-03-25T17:07:35","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T09:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=5390"},"modified":"2024-03-25T17:07:39","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T09:07:39","slug":"princess-kates-cancer-treatment-news-sparks-remorse-from-people-who-spread-conspiracies-and-memes-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=5390","title":{"rendered":"Princess Kate\u2019s cancer treatment news sparks remorse from people who spread conspiracies and memes online"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For weeks, hundreds of people online have spread conspiracy theories, posted memes and cracked jokes in an attempt to answer one question: Where is Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kensington Palace repeatedly said that Kate was recovering from a planned January abdominal surgery. Still, official responses, as well as an edited image posted to the palace\u2019s social media channels, only fueled more unsubstantiated rumors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But many people who had partaken in the online frenzy found themselves expressing regret after the princess broke her silence on Friday. In a video message to the public, the 42-year-old wife of Prince William, Britain\u2019s future king, announced she was diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actor Blake Lively was among the first to make a statement online apologizing for her now-deleted Instagram post, a Photoshop joke inspired by the manipulated Mother\u2019s Day photo released by Kensington Palace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure no one cares today but I feel like I have to acknowledge this,\u201d Lively wrote in an Instagram story. \u201cI made a silly post around the \u2018photoshop fails\u2019 frenzy, and oh man, that post has me mortified today. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sentiment dominated much of the reaction on social media, where users said they wished they hadn\u2019t poked fun at the princess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah i definitely feel bad about laughing at all the \u2018KateGate\u2019 memes. wishing her a speedy recovery,\u201d wrote Saint Hoax, an influencer who has amassed a following of 3.4 million on Instagram, where they post memes related to current events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fervor around Kate\u2019s whereabouts \u2014 and subsequent online remorse \u2014 has underscored a pattern in which the absence of information provides perfect fodder for creators chasing relevance on algorithm-driven social media platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s trying to jump in to get a piece of the viral pie, so to speak,\u201d said Jessica Maddox, an assistant professor of digital media technology at the University of Alabama. \u201cWhen we look at the intersection of conspiracy theories and social media, particularly content creators, everybody wants to have the hottest take, especially when information isn’t known.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Maddox said she hasn\u2019t seen such remorse before in any online conspiracy culture. Usually when internet sleuths are proven wrong, she said, they double down by shifting the goalposts to further deny new evidence and justify their actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many online said Kate\u2019s news also serves as a reminder to stop making assumptions about people\u2019s personal lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a sentiment that\u2019s popped up online before, particularly when celebrities and public figures are overly scrutinized or become the subject of unsupported claims by their followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some fans of actor Chadwick Boseman expressed similar regret about commenting on his weight loss when it was revealed after his death that he had been quietly battling colon cancer for years. In April 2023, pop star Ariana Grande spoke out about the public\u2019s \u201cconcerns\u201d about her body, saying \u201cyou never know what someone is going through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kate news has also highlighted the tension between the public\u2019s desire to know every detail about the royal family and the royals\u2019 desire to keep their health struggles private. The princess\u2019 father-in-law, King Charles III, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Charles has canceled public engagements while he receives treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reshma Saujani, CEO of nonprofit Girls Who Code, which empowers and equips young girls to pursue careers in STEM, said she felt \u201cdisgusted with the internet\u201d when she heard about Kate\u2019s news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDisgusted with the internet and even disgusted with myself because I fell into the trap,\u201d Saujani wrote in an Instagram post. \u201cThis is a classic example of what we do to women, of how when a woman takes time to prioritize her health and take care of her family, we second guess it to the point of coming up with conspiracy theories to explain her self care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Kate\u2019s news now public, Jessica Myrick, a Pennsylvania State University professor who studies the psychology of media use, suggested that the online chatter surrounding Kate may wind down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, Myrick doesn\u2019t think that social media users will stop creating conspiracy theories online in general, despite expressing some remorse over the Kate news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are not a lot of consequences for sharing memes on social media, and if anything, the likes that people got, the laughs, the comments \u2026 that\u2019s probably reinforcing and will probably mean we\u2019ll do it all again,\u201d Myrick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her message on Friday, Kate asked people to respect the family\u2019s privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment,\u201d she said. \u201cMy work has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I look forward to being back when I am able, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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